World News Quick Take

AGENCIES

■ United States

Lindauer unfit for trial

Susan Lindauer, a former congressional aide accused of working with Iraqi intelligence before Operation Iraqi Freedom, was released from prison on Friday after a federal judge ruled that she could not be forced to take anti-psychotic medication to make her competent to stand trial. The judge said he was not convinced that even if she took the medication, the defendant would be capable to stand trial. At least a half dozen doctors for both the defense and the prosecution have found that Lindauer suffers from delusions of grandeur and paranoia, which makes her incompetent to stand trial The ruling is a setback for the government's case against Lindauer, who was arrested in March 2004 on charges of conspiracy to act as an unregistered Iraqi agent from October 1999 until February 2004.

■ Chile

Pinochet loses immunity

The Supreme Court has stripped former dictator General Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution for abuses at one of his regime's most notorious detention centers. This marks the first time that torture has been specifically mentioned in one of the numerous legal cases brought against the 90-year-old former dictator. The decision, which cannot be appealed, paves the way for Alejandro Madrid, the judge handling the case, to indict Pinochet. The immunity Pinochet enjoys as a former president must be lifted by the court before cases -- such as that of the notorious Villa Grimaldi, allegedly one of the "worst houses of torture" used under Pinochet -- can go forward.